http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/06/08/jury-hears-closing-arguments-in-cabbagetown-murder-trial.html
Jury hears closing arguments in Cabbagetown murder trial
Adonay Zekarias is charged in the murder of Eritrean refugee Nighisti Semret.
TARA WALTON / TORONTO STAR Order this photo
Cabbagetown resident Nighisti Semret is shown in a photo with her
family. She was fatally stabbed in November 2012.
By: Alyshah Hasham Staff Reporter, Published on Mon Jun 08 2015
On Tuesday a jury will begin deliberating whether the man who fatally
stabbed Nighisti Semret, an Eritrean refugee who forged a new life in
Toronto, was her acquaintance and fellow refugee Adonay Zekarias.
Over the short trial the jury watched the chilling surveillance video
of Semret, 55, walking to the alley near her Cabbagetown home,
followed by her killer.
Just before 7 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2012 Semret was following her regular
route home from her job as a hotel cleaner on the night shift, Crown
prosecutor Mary Humphrey told the jury in closing arguments.
“(Zekarias) waited in the dark, in the pouring rain, in a location
across town from where he resided, armed with a large kitchen knife,
because he planned to kill her,” Humphrey said. “He executed his plan
quickly, a surprise attack. No talking, no negotiating, no hesitating.
He had lots of time to deliberate about the consequences of his
actions while he was stalking her.”
Zekarias has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
The Crown’s strongest evidence is that Zekarias’ DNA was found under
Semret’s fingernails, in five spots on her bag and on the umbrella a
neighbour used to try and fight off Semret’s attacker. The Crown
alleges Zekarias cut himself on his hand while stabbing Semret, and
the DNA on the bag and umbrella come from his blood. Zekarias called
911 later that day to obtain medical assistance for lacerations on his
hand, the Crown alleges, giving the highly unlikely explanation they
came from a door slamming on his hand.
Susan Adams, Zekarias’ defence lawyer told the jury that the
neighbour, David Hughes, did not see any blood on the attacker’s hand,
and there is no evidence of anyone seeing a man bleeding profusely
making his way to the west end where Zekarias lived. No blood trail
was found by the police, she said.
Adams suggested that some of the DNA evidence may have been
contaminated. The umbrella lay out in the rain for a long period of
time and no DNA was found on it after the first test, she said.
“After being left in a room with the black bag, DNA was found on both
the umbrella and black bag,” Adams said.
The DNA profiles of three different males, including Zekarias, were
found under Semret’s nails, Adams said.
Adams also argued that Zekarias does not resemble the man in the
grainy surveillance video, who the police initially identified as a
white male, possibly with a limp, wearing a white or light coloured
scarf.
“Officer (Gary) Giroux now believes the surveillance video shows a
non-white male with a goatee, no limp and no scarf but rather the
plaid lining of a jacket,” Adams said. “These are not mistakes. These
are examples of a theory changing to fit the person arrested despite
evidence to the contrary from independent sources.”
Hughes testified he recalled seeing a white male with no facial hair,
though he was mostly focused on the hand of the attacker, Adams told
the jury.
“You are being asked to convict a man based on evidence that leads to
more questions than answers,” Adams said.
Semret, a mother of four, and Zekarias did know each other, attending
the same church in their home country Eritrea and staying at the same
shelter in Toronto in 2010 after arriving as religious refugees, the
jury heard.
But while phone records show they occasionally were in contact after
leaving the shelter, the trial has shed little light on their
relationship.
The motive for the murder remains a mystery.
Received on Tue Jun 09 2015 - 12:13:50 EDT